WAN Optimization Dominated by Startups, Growing Fast

A new study says WAN optimization appliances are a booming market as organizations spread out.

As medium and large organizations spread out over the globe, the WAN optimization market is growing to match their demands. According to a study by research firm Infonetics, the WAN optimization appliance market grew 49 percent in 2005, raking in $236 million.

The Infonetics study focused on a number of companies, including larger outfits like Juniper and Cisco as well as Allot, Certeon, Packeteer, Riverbed, Silver Peak, StreamCore, Tacit and others. It included devices that perform such tasks as compression, caching, protocol optimization, bandwidth shaping, and/or QoS monitoring.

According to the study, the WAN optimization appliance market increased 49 percent in 2005, with revenues growing to $236 million and unit shipments increasing 39 percent. The research firm says it forecasts double-digit growth through 2009, with annual shipments almost tripling and revenue more than doubling.

"WAN optimization is still a relatively small market, but it's poised for tremendous growth because it balances the desire to consolidate data centers with the need to deliver applications to an ever more distributed workforce," said Matthias Machowinski, directing analyst at Infonetics Research. "There was a lot of activity in the WAN optimization market last year: acquisitions, new companies entering the market, and significant growth."

According to Infonetics, the market leader for WAN optimization appliance revenue in 2005 was Packeteer, followed by Expand, Juniper, and Riverbed. The firm also reported that the majority of vendors involved in WAN optimization are "startups that have a single focus on WAN optimization, including new entrants Silver Peak and Certeon." Most of the money in the market, 46 percent, comes from North America.